my focus 2002 1.6 manual went into the garage on Wednesday morning for timing kit replacement since then I have felt it was a bit slow taking off at junctions then I thought I was just being paranoid until today when I was at the school which is on a steep hill and I couldn't get up it! the car seems to be running fine apart from this I at first thought my clutch was on the way out but the car doesn't over rev when I was trying to get it to move foot to the floor and getting about a metre at most! am stumped?!? have the garage mucked up the timing or do I have another problem all together?

It sounds from your description that the garage has retarded the valve timing by connecting the cam chain or belt incorrectly (eg- a tooth or more out) - there are other things that can cause this though

Probably revs fine in neutral (no load) or downhill but not uphill - (classic symptoms of mis-timed valvegear)

My suggestion is - Take it back to them and kick up a fuss, get them to check/ fix it and don't take no or "they are all like that" or "it will improove in 1 week/1month/1 year"(no, it won't) for an answer!

I have returned the car to the garage mechanic took it out for a run and he says theres a flat spot ? he's told me he cant look at it till Monday so I just left the car with him as it was no use to me in its present condition, 10 mins after getting home they called to say they think they have identified the problem .... the felxi pipe has come away from the exhaust and this could be causing the problem? there going to call me in the morning with a price for this job they have said they will still check that the timing is lined up correctly but in his words its fool proof!

Ok so the garage decided the problem with the car was my flexi pipe had come away from the exhaust so after paying £170 today for a new manifold inc flexi pipe I got the car back now its not as bad as it was but I still feel its lacking power it only seems to be when I have come to a stop or have slowed right down then try to accelerate away from a junction etc car will be returned again to the garage tomorrow :(

ouch - they don't mind spending your money, do they?

was the ehhaust very/ noticably loud before it was repaired?

no, cant say it was loud I did have an advisory on my MOT in july saying it was loose but it had passed the emmissions so he didn't fail it

before the car went in on Wednesday it was running fine it had the central locking GEM replaced the Saturday before but I cant see that causing any kind of problems with the running of the car wish I hadn't had the thing changed now :(

Bought a 2nd hand mk1 which had a new tuning belt. However on hills it jut wouldn't go and was really underpowered, especially pulling out at junctions. Garage said timing was out by a couple of teeth, as the garage didn't peg it right when cambelt was done. However I got it back and it still had the problem. Garage had it for 2 days investigating. In the end it appeared the wrong camelt was previously fitted. This was changed and it now feels like a totally different car. All under 1 month warranty.

Defo sounds like the timeing to me like Craig states possible wrong belt has been fitted and again if the cams and crank have not been locked off before installing its possible it has slipped and I think they are hardly likely to admit a mistake like that as it could cost them an engine replacement .stands to reason if it was running ok before belt replacement then that was the only thing replaced that's where the prob lies like me yesterday before I set out I adjusted the passenger seat down the road the airbag light comes on thinking that's odd all I,ve done is move the seat .did a search on the net and it confirmed I had disturbed the connector under the seat every thing back ok now .and what there saying about the exhaust is bull in my opinion